20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

504 Mihály DobrovitsWe also can mention some parallelism between totemic legends,which are also closely connected with the ethno genetic traditions. It isobvious that the Ancient Turks (Tu-ch'üeh) had an ethno genetic legendnearly identical with that of the Romans. The ancestors of both peopleswere saved and brought up by a she-wolf, which was obviously a totemicfigure. Their mother was Rhea Silvia, the daughter of the King of AlbaLonga, who became pregnant from the God Mars. Her ill-omened twins,Romulus and Remus were thrown into the marshes of the Tiber, where ashe-wolf nourished them. Therefore, they could grow up and were laterable to found Rome. Leaving aside the sarcasm of Livius, we can identifythis second scene of the legend with that of the origin of the Turks (Tuch'üeh)in the Chou-shu and the Pei-shi, version A, according to ProfessorSinor's classification. Although one can imagine, as a phantasm, the prehistorical ties between Italy and Inner Asia, for the time being I regard thisparallel structurally and may be a common place in Eurasian mythology.There are some cases when a figure from the west became amythological hero in the East. Alexandre the Great with the name of Dhul-Qarnayn became a legendary figure in the Islamic and Iranic world. Hisfigure legitimised many conquests, the most important amongst them beingthose of the Ottoman Empire. On the contrary, the figure of Ceasar (Qaisar)in the form Geser became the defender of the ancient rites and traditionsagainst the new religions, Islam and Buddhism. This title was respected asbeing one of the four Sons of Heaven in the Orient, and during the Arabianconquests, the resistance of Byzantium against the Arabs gave a greatimpetus to those who fought against the new conquerors in the East.We have some cases, when the similarities in motifs can be a result ofsome historical facts.The legendary origin of the Kao-ch'ê (ch. 103 of the Wei-shu, writtenin 550 AD, runs as follows: A shan-yü of the Hiung-nu had two daughters.Because of their great beauty, their father wanted to give them to the Heavenas wives. He had a very high tower constructed and had them closed up init. In the fourth year of their confinement, a she-wolf appeared at the bottomof the tower and then frequently visited the place. It was the younger sisterwho realized he should have been a holy beast sent down to them by theHeaven. So she joined the wolf and became his wife. Their descendants arethe Kao-ch'ê.We have a full parallel of this story in the Liber Attilae speaking aboutthe birth of Attila. This book tells the story with the spread of the Christianfaith in Italy and especially in Aquileia that caused a bitter anger in the